Read the Transcript of Butch Trucks’ Final Interview

Hours before his death on Jan. 24, former Allman Brothers Band drummer Butch Trucks was on the phone with The Morning Call for what would turn out to be his final interview. The paper has published a transcript, which is now online.

Trucks, whose death has reportedly been ruled a suicide, betrayed no signs of feeling his end was near, telling reporter John J. Moser that he planned to put together a live album with his new Freight Train Band — a unit he praised for not only its tight performances, but the way they made him feel while playing.

"I’m just loving playing with these people. Everybody is loose, everybody just lets go," said Trucks. "And like I say, we have a good time. There’s not a lot of tension and there’s no a lot of egos flying around. It’s just really fun to do. And there’s nothing — nothing — like the magic of playing music. I’m 69 years old now, and I’ll get up on stage so damned tired I feel like I can’t move. And about halfway through the first song, I’m a 25-year-old Superman."

Trucks also seemed at peace with the retirement of the Allmans, minimizing the odds of a reunion and suggesting the group had run its course by the time they played their final show.

"I think that particular version of the Allman Brothers had gotten stale, you know?" he said. Noting that even the solos played by guitarists Derek Trucks and Warren Haynes were "pretty much the same" over the group's last decade, he added, "It just got very structured ... they could play their butts off. But it got redundant. I mean, it was really great, but one you’ve heard great 50 times, it still gets redundant."